March 17, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a drastic impact on our transportation systems, which in turn affects the livelihood of employees in the transportation industry. In the midst of the chaos and change, we might not realize just how hard some people are working to keep people and goods moving.
Here are a few of those heroes in the world of transportation.
#1: Freight and delivery drivers “” for working around the clock to meet the surge of online shopping. “Delivery workers are now the linchpin that connects businesses to consumers,” says Neil Saunders of Global Data. The demand for delivery and service workers is so great that Amazon is hiring for 100,000 more workers and raising their minimum pay through April.
#2: Custodian crews at transit agencies “” for the extra work they are putting into sanitizing vehicles to try to keep people safe. Sanitizing protocols have increased in intensity as agencies seek to minimize risk of exposure on public transit. In many cities, custodian crews are cleaning on an ongoing basis to disinfect handrails, doors, fare machines, and other “high touch point areas.”
#3: Bus and transit drivers “” for keeping essential services available to community members by showing up and working on the “front lines” of transportation during the pandemic.
#4: Couriers and mobility services companies “” for offering unique services to transport medical goods during lockdowns. In the early days of COVID-19 detection in China, several mobility service companies reacted quickly to launch services meeting urgent requests and providing emergency services to the medical workforce in Wuhan.
#5: Cities, like Bogota, Colombia, that are temporarily converting traffic lanes into bike lanes. This allow for better movement for bicycles, a cleaner, lower-risk way to get around while adhering to social distancing recommendations.
#6: IT teams everywhere “” for their extra work during this time to set up organizations for telecommuting, and making telehealth possible to reduce the need to travel.
Know another COVID-19 transportation hero? Let us know, and we’ll add it to our list!
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